1. Field of Invention
This invention relates to canister-type vacuum cleaners and more particularly, to those used in commercial and/or industrial locations to collect such debris as dust, dirt, noxious substances and other dry materials.
2. Description of the Prior Art
As is known and understood, many different makes of canister-type vacuum cleaners are available for commercial or industrial use as compared to the typical vacuum cleaner design used residentially. Sold under such names as Black & Decker, Shop Vac, Wet-Dry Vac, Eureka, Hoover and Sears, these types of machines all include a cylindrical bin having a vacuum blower connected at its upper end and a pick up hose coupled to either its top or through its side. As contrasted with the "residential" type vacuum cleaner, noted to be absent is any type of disposable collection bag. Thus once the cylindrical bin is filled, it is then carried outside and dumped. Usually, with "dry" materials being collected, the result is a blowing up of a dust cloud in the user's face. To avoid this, suggestions have been made to line the bin with a plastic disposable bag before use so that the bag can be tied, once filled, removed from the bin and disposed in any available, permissible manner. Many of these attempts, however, proved unsuccessful in that the disposable plastic bag got sucked in at the filter mechanism or at the outlet to the external atmosphere. These attempts quickly proved unusable and led to further attempts to solve the problem.
Applicant presented one such solution in U.S. Pat. No. 5,564,155, wherein a coilable sleeve was fit into the bag within the canister. The coilable sleeve being of a width to unfurl to expand the bag towards the wall of the bin and of such rigidity to maintain its unfurled shape and the expansion of the bag against the suction of the vacuum blower.
Applicant's coilable sleeve solved the problem of maintaining the disposable bag in a substantially expanded mode for the collection of debris and prevented the collapse of the disposable bag as a result of the suction of the vacuum blower. Applicant's coilable sleeve proved adaptable to canister-type vacuum cleaners in which the inlet leading to the interior was on the top of the canister-type vacuum cleaner and also to canister-type vacuum cleaners in which the inlet was on the side of the canister and the inlet presented a cylindrical protrusion on the inner wall of the canister. In the latter situation, a portion of the side wall of the disposable bag was fitted over the cylindrical protrusion and removably secured thereto by an elastic band. A slit in the portion of the disposable bag which overlapped the cylindrical portion would allow the ingress of the dry material being vacuumed. Applicant's coilable sleeve was then positioned within the bag and the lid of the canister-type vacuum cleaner was secured in position for the collection of such debris and other dry materials.
One problem which has arisen with respect to the wide variety of canister-type vacuum cleaners on the market is that in some instances, the inner wall of the cylindrical bin has no cylindrical protrusion at the inlet port. In those instances, the inlet port is flush with the inner wall of the cylindrical bin allowing no means for securing a portion of the side wall of the disposable bag in position to insure that the collected debris and dry material is collected in the disposable bag.
The adaptor of the instant invention provides a solution to this problem and allows owners of canister-type vacuum cleaners to utilize a disposable bag in conjunction with applicant's coilable sleeve to collect debris and dry materials and dispose of same in an efficient manner.